The ACR and a new Access to Reproductive Health Care Task Force are working to ensure patients with rheumatic disease—particularly women—have access to the medications and treatments they need, including methotrexate, and that rheumatology providers are able to maintain trusting relationships with and advise their patients on all matters relevant to the management of their rheumatic diseases.
In light of new challenges to individuals’ reproductive rights and the known challenges of clinical management of rheumatic disease patients during pregnancy, we review the current state of reproductive rheumatology and the management of patients with rheumatic disease during pregnancy.
Many women with inflammatory arthritis stop filling prescriptions for medications to treat their disease during pregnancy, putting themselves at risk of disability and joint damage. Birru Talabi et al. examined why, finding that some women discontinue their medications out of fear, while others receive conflicting advice from providers or misinformation about medication safety.
Rheumatologists play a critical role in the reproductive health of their patients, but only half of rheumatologists currently ask their patients about reproductive health or family planning issues. A new guideline seeks to change that.
The ACR has developed educational materials for healthcare providers to use to discuss reproductive health and contraception with their patients with psoriatic arthritis.
ACR CONVERGENCE 2021—Rheumatologists are often left in a challenging space when managing medications for patients with rheumatic diseases in relation to contraception, pregnancy and breastfeeding, especially with many novel immunosuppressants and often a dearth of pregnancy safety data. On Nov. 6 during ACR Convergence 2021, leading reproductive health experts came together to speak on this…
Contraception, disease control, family planning and managing life with an infant—five experts addressed these concerns and more for patients with rheumatic disease during a special online webinar.
PRSYM—At its heart, the practice of medicine in all forms is specifically centered on delivering compassionate, thoughtful and evidence-based clinical care. In the world of pediatric rheumatology, a range of issues, such as chronic pain, reproductive health and transitioning to adult providers, are of utmost importance to patients and physicians alike. These topics were addressed…
Reproductive health can be a concern for patients with rheumatic diseases, and practitioners in both rheumatology and obstetrics/gynecology often work closely together. The 2020 ACR Guideline for the Management of Reproductive Health in Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases, new clinical recommendations developed by an ACR-convened group for pregnant women, post-menopausal women, lactating women, and women and…
The evidence-based guideline includes contraceptive recommendations and suggestions for rheumatologists co-managing patients with obstetrician-gynecologists and other specialists.